


Console Me, Doctor

by Schneezed



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Dark Past, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Old Friends, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 19:23:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18610915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schneezed/pseuds/Schneezed
Summary: Hoping to restart his life in the big city, Takuto Maruki gets a job in Tokyo helping young people as a counsellor, only to run into the one man that made his past memorable. For all the wrong - and right - reasons.





	Console Me, Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a joke, but I low-key seriously ship these two now. I love them. They’re my soft bois. Please enjoy this crack-turned-serious love story

Suicide. Sexual assault. Harassment. Bullying. 

This school really is a jack of all trades - every kid here is some kind of damaged, and that’s a trophy no school should care to hold. Takemi told me it was bad, but this? This isn’t quite what I signed up for, but I’m here; this is my job, and I’m here to help these kids for as long as I can. 

“Doctor?” 

“Huh?” My eyes snapped up, meeting those of a blonde girl. “Sorry, I was lost in thought. And please, call me Takuto - I know it’ll be difficult to trust a teacher after… him, but I promise you when I say that I’m here to help.”

While she smiled, the young woman still didn’t seem too happy with the prospect of being assigned to me. Her name is Ann Takamaki - a victim of the Kamoshida case. This was our second session in the past fortnight, neither time had she spoken too much. Most of our conversations were her telling me about little troubles while avoiding the big things in her life. For a talkative person, she was oddly closed off. Not that I can blame her; she’s being told to trust another man of a similar age and position to the one who’d hurt her - and the one she loved - so badly. 

“How is Shiho doing, by the way? You mentioned she hadn’t woken up in our last session.”

Ann’s smile faltered though she did her best to keep it steady in the end. Her hands gripped the hem of her skirt before she spoke, as if preparing herself. “She… She’s still asleep. They say she’s got a great chance of waking up soon, but, um…” 

With each word Ann seemed to grow quieter until she refused to even look up from the ground, her voice growing silent. 

It was clear how much Ann loved Shiho. Whether that was platonic or romantic, it felt too soon to ask right now, but her grieving was all too apparent. It was clear she was preparing for the worst. And she’s not the only one - another kid I’m treating blames himself for Suzui’s suicide attempt. He saw the abuse, was forced to watch more than once, and couldn’t say anything for fear of being viewed as a liar. The boy knew it could easily have been pinned on him had he tried to out his terrible teacher. 

My whole diary’s filled with appointments from this school’s volleyball team alone. Even the student council president herself - supposedly known for being the strong silent type - has asked for a session a week. Like I said, everyone here is in desperate need of healing. 

It’s daunting to know I’m the only person in this department. It feels like I’ve got a lot resting on my shoulders, yet the principle ensures me that his students are ‘top of the line’ - in his own words, he believes that if these kids were truly troubled, they should seek a therapist outside of school hours. And his views are definitely reflected in my paycheck. But, if it pays the bills (and I get to actually help people), then it’ll be worth it in the long run.

“Crap.” Ann spoke under her breath, before locking eyes with me once more. “Do you know what time it is?”

Pulling the small flip phone out my pocket, I flicked it open and read the numbers aloud. “It’s nearly ten-to-four. Why, is something the matter?”

She stood up, packing her bag and standing hastily. “It’s Shiho, visiting hours are from four-thirty, and I really need to see her.” 

I nodded in response, raising from my own chair. Escorting her over to the door I couldn’t help but notice a little charm on her bag; a miniature love heart with the initials ‘S + A’ carved into it. A small smile spread across my lips - even if I don’t know her, it’s nice to think that Shiho has someone who cares for her this much. 

“Until next week, I hope you and Shiho do well.” Ann smiled back sincerely this time, looking up at me while I spoke.

Though, upon opening the door, both our smiles turned into confused grimaces. While Ann’s expression stayed as such, mine quickly grew to resemble to billowing guilt in my gut. 

“Iwai! Hi, uh, wow, that’s interesting. You’re here. In my doorway. At the school.” The muscular man in front of us was one I knew all too well. Living in a place like Tokyo, I didn’t think we’d ever run into each other again. But here he is - specifically looking for me.

Ann slid past him as he moved out of the way, the blonde girl waving goodbye before she disappeared down the corridor. And now I was alone. With him. Unsure of what else to do, I stood to the side and gestured for Iwai to enter my office, which he did with such a surprisingly calm expression. At first I thought he looked mad, but his face is so… loose? It’s like he’s just here casually. Even though that can’t be the case. Right? 

As he sauntered over to my desk, the fear felt palpable within my stomach. Iwai himself was an intimidating man all on his own, but that’s not why I was scared; I didn’t expect him to hurt me at all. I just wasn’t ready to face our past so soon.

He leaned against the edge of my desk, hand gripping the edge to keep him steady while he looked at me, an aura of awkward emanating from both of us. My throat clenched as it gulped and dried in less than a second. 

“So… Finally got that degree, huh?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah! I graduated last year - it’s nice to not worry about essays anymore.” A timid laugh escaped my lips as I did my best to at least hold a conversation. “Takemi told me about this position, actually, said it’d pay good money. It feels ironic to be back in these halls.”

Iwai chuckled to himself for a moment before piping up once more. “It did feel off, walking around, seeing how they changed shit. The layout’s all the same but it’s still so different.”

“That’s time for you.” I remarked, rubbing the back of my neck. 

My eyes locked with the hand he’d placed on my desk to hold him steady. Then I looked up, noticing how the light bounced off the leather of his jacket. The fabric was rough yet well-taken care of for a coat of it’s age. Scrapes here and there didn’t stop it from looking relatively new. 

But hey, that’s Iwai; he’s a fixer-upper through and through. The man loves himself a project that lets him get his hands dirty. 

The trousers he wore were less impressive: simple, light grey khakis and black combat boots. He truly hadn’t changed from the man I knew. 

“You done analysing?” He spoke aloud, a faint playfulness present in his tone. “It’s me, Doc, you don’t have to give me the old evaluation.” 

“What can I say? It’s a force of habit.” 

Before I knew it, I felt a leather-clad hand on my chin, pulling my face up. Our eyes met though he still stood an arms width away from me still. “You also have a habit of not knowing where to look.”

My knees seemed to wobble as my brain tried to process words that weren’t “man hot, please touch me”. How do you talk to a man like this? A past like ours, sass like his; this is the opposite of an easy conversation. 

“Listen.” He dropped his hand, placing both into his pockets, eyes still glued to me. “Tae told me about you.”

“Why isn’t that surprising?” Even after a decade she was still playing matchmaker. 

This wasn’t the first time Takemi had done something like this, in fact, she was perhaps the reason I was so awkward around Iwai in the first place. After all, if it weren’t for her then the two of us never would have met when we attended Shujin. He was on the track team. I was in the book club. A tale as old as high school. 

“Yeah. She, uh, she mentioned that some stuff went down in Iwatodai.” His face grew red as he spoke as if there were something else he wanted to say. As if he already knew what I was about to tell him. 

“That’s one way to describe it. I had a girlfriend for a while, but that… it didn’t pan out. Lost my house. Now I’m back in Shibuya.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” His eyebrows twisted, an expression of guilt plastered on his face. 

“It’s fine! Honestly, I’m over it.” That was an obvious lie, even to the usually dense Munehisa. But I didn’t want to trouble him over that, nor did I particularly want to bring up an ex in front of my other ex.

For a moment, he actually looked dumbfounded, unsure of what else there was to say. He’d come here with a purpose but didn’t expect to find it so difficult to state as such. To be honest, I was scared to talk with him. Scared to finally own up to the things I did even though I know it’s the right thing to do. 

“Listen, I just wanted to say that I-“ In an attempt to start my apology, I found myself being cut off by the other man’s words. 

“Takuto. Don’t.” His hand held my forearm gently as if he were trying to comfort me in some way. “It… It wasn’t your fault. There was no easy way out of it - it was you or me, and you made that choice.”

We both knew how wrong that was. The mere thought that it was “kill or be killed” sickened me. Because it wasn’t - there was absolutely a right way to get through it, and I chose the coward’s way. I should’ve taken my punishment like the man I’m supposed to be. 

“Iwai… there must be some way, any way at all, that I can make it up to you.” He looked to the side for a moment, finally breaking contact. His face practically glowed crimson when compared to his previous blush. Eyes closed, breath trembling, he finally spoke up. 

“You really want to do something that bad?” Iwai questioned.

I turned his chin to me this time, testing my luck as well as my nerve. “More than anything. What I did was… horrible. You didn’t deserve that, and anything I can do to try and better myself in your head is worth it.”

He smirked sincerely at me, grabbing my hand and holding it in place. 

“Then let’s talk. Somewhere that ain’t your office. Over dinner, if you’re up for it?” 

In that split second, I felt my brain explode, jaw drop, and sweat pool as I tried processing what exactly he’d just said to me. Was this a date? Had he just asked me out? I wasn’t entirely sure, but I didn’t want to ask for confirmation out of fear of being rejected. Or perhaps is was even fear of the date itself actually happening. 

Both? Both. It was absolutely both of those things. 

“Sorry, too forward?” He asked. 

“N-No! No, no, it’s fine!” I panicked, speaking louder than I intended.

“Okay then. I, uh, I’ll pick you up around eight. The blue apartments near Yongen, right?”

I stared at him in utter confusion. “How did you…?”

The answer should’ve been obvious - the moment I began speaking, it was clear that I’d forgotten who had orchestrated this meeting in the first place. “She really told you everything, huh.” 

“To be fair.” He spoke up. “I asked.” 

Iwai patted my shoulder before walking past me, exiting the room, but not before winking at me playfully. 

Alone in the office, I could utter but one word. 

“...Fuck.”


End file.
